Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-06-03
MEMORIAL DAY


The annual services Of Memorial Day be
gan on Sunday morning, when Rev. f. j.
Parry preached memorial sermon at the
Baptist church in the presence Of Sedgwick
Grand Army post and relief corps and Ty-
Ter camp, Sons Of Veterans, attended by
large assemblage Of people from the vari-
Gus religious societies. The church was
handsomely decorated with flowers, huge
pyramid of bouquets arising on one side of
the desk, while upon the other stood
beautiful floral representation of the mon
ument recently erected by the sixth army
corps at Spottsylvania in memory of Gen.
Sedgwick The latter was the work of
Mrs. l.. w. Hawley, the former was CON
tributed by Mrs. J J. Estey. Mr. Parry took
his text from Ezekiel xxxvii., ..
Mr., Pnprv's Sermon.
When Ezekiel had the vision Of which
the text is part, Israel and Judah were in
bondage the people were captives in for
eign land and sat weeping by the rivers Of
that strange and far-of country. Jerusa-
lem was in ruins the grass grew long and
rank in its deserted streets, an awful 81
lence filed the temple, the foxes ranged its
empty courts and looked out at its windows,
while the wolf made her lair in the holy
place. No plough turned furrow in the
fields, the vines grew wild and tangled on
the cruwbing terraces no ilocks pastured
ON the hillsides, no milkmaid sang, no shep
| herd piped, no smoke curled up from the
homesteads on the lonely hills The land
was desolate, its people were expatriated
and far away beyond the desert, beside the
| rivers Of Babylon, the 20 years captivity
rolled YEARLY on. Many of the Jews were
utterly detected by their sad surroundings,
and, to the dshonor Of their creed and
their country and their God, they could see
no possible good to come out of these sad
things in their nations history. In the
midst of these conditions God gave to Eze-
kiel the vision Of the valley of dry bones.
| The prophet stands looking over valley
filled with the bones Of the slain. The hot
sun shone on those whitened bones, making
| it a veritable valley Of desolation The
other day, in digging on High street, some
| workmen unearthcd the bones Of three
skeleton forms, and doubtless most of those
who looked upon those bones felt that of all
dead things, if the expression may be al
| lowed, those human frames were the dead
est. Before the eye of the prophet there
lay in confused heaps thousands Of such,
| and when Gods voice came to him with the
question, "Son Of man, can these bones
i've II ~ no NOnbeT lllWJ ne hu'pk MS
head as he looked out over the Wilderness
Of those bones and at the unchangng grin
on those crumbling skeleton faces, and an
swered, 20 Lord, thou knowest. Then
God babe him prophesy to the four winds
and say, Come from the four winds and
breathe upon these slain that they may
live So he prophesied, and the bones
came together thew and sinew and flesh
bound them, and they stood upon their feet
an exceeding great army.
This morning, members of the Grand
Army Of the Republic, we stand like the
prophet Ezekiel, looking out upon valley
Of dry bones-a valley that covers hun
dreds Of miles, valley CHASTITY 10y reason
Of the multitude that are lying in it. Be
fore us are the dead Of the Peninsula there
are the thousands that line the valleys from
Atlanta to the sea the other thousands III
the vale Of Gettysburg the multitude amid
the quiet Of our Northern graveyards. As
we gaze upon it all rs Ezekiel ga1ed upon
the valley in that long ago time, a voice
says to US, Can these bones live o. And
we answer. yes, they can live and they
do live ~ The winds of God have swept
over these valleys Of our dead and the
bones have been quickened, and they have
been made to live again. They have risen
in new forms, and are with US now rs living
presences, living in the influences that come
from them. As the prophet saw the winds
Of God revivify the dead in the valley be
fore him, let us see how the winds If the
north and the south and the east and the
west come breathing upon our valley Of The
slain, TO make them live again and caus,
them to stand before us an exceeding grand
army. In view Of the mighty living force,
at work to day by reason Of what these
men have done, there ought to he rejoicing
rather than mourning over them. Tn,
day of all days when the nations gratitud,
and thank fulness should express itself il
the day set apart to the memory of oul
warrior dead
; The speaker then sketched the cause,
that led the South to launch out on the Sc,
Of war, and pictured the scenes of the thou
sands of the gallant comrades in arms sluir
between Charleston harbor and Appomat
tox
As we stand gazing over this mighty
. host of our dead, the wind from the cas-
blows over the valleys where they lie. tell
ing us what the death of these heroes %
ours accomplished for the drowntroddel
tribes and kindreds Of the eastern hemis
phere. On this western continent all form
of slavery or serfdom seem TO be a thous
and fold more out of place than i'll AM
other land. Because those who fought witt
you so gallantly, and whom We remembe
with such gratitude to-day, laid down thei
lives to preserve the heritage Of liberty 70
the oppressed of all lands, the east win,
blows with the breath Of gratitude owe
q the valley of our warrior slain The speak
e err then sketched the mighty and magnif
% cent results achieved by the victory o
northern arms, in making this in fact, as il
q name, the land of the free. But not onl
r does the wind from the east laden with graf
r itude, blow over the valley of our slain, bu
+ the winds Of the west come over it, tellin
TO us that the death Of these men has mad
r the promise glorious concerning the futur
t of the west, because they settled forever tn
t question that no race of chattels, black o
a white should curse the homes of that fai
broad land The speaker depressed at thi
= point 10 indicate a cause for uneasiness i
the growth of vast estates held in the ives
by foreign capitalists and said it was
% most significant action that was recent
u taken by the Legislature of Michigan, an
: was carried by them 10 the national Con
p gress and made law few days ago, b
% which no alien shall hold ownership beyon
, three years of more than n certain humble
of acres of land in the United States. Tn
- stranger and foreigner who never intend
V to become the citizen has no right TO hol
the soil which the blood of our soldiers wa
shed to make free. The grandeur of GU
u heritage in the west, since the death of gu
- heroes has made it impossible to plant
its virgin soil the upas tree of tyrann,
was then depicted. So also comes the win
y from the south breathing over the vale
al of our slain heroes it comes in tender. +,
gretful sound, and with the low moanm
s in it Of heroic, mistaken men. mingle
N with the grander strain of hope, telling l
'. that our dead are living now in the might
le influence their deeds are eXerting i'm ii
m south, Already there are rising in IL
re south great men, who, speaking of the
sr land, call the men of the north who die
r ON their battleiields the regenerators of Il
he southern states Such was the lutheran,
al of James 7. Brady of Atlanta in his ma,
he niticent speech at the New England dim,
"a ON "The New South Such was the spir
he that breathed through the beautiful speeC
As of welcome delivered n few days ago !
rs the mayor of fredericksburg, when
C. spoke to the veterans who went to Spot
n sylvana to erect monument on the sp
rs where the brave Sedgwick fell. The spea
"a er then showed the vast difference betwet
" the old south and the new south, and the
y, showed how the wind from the north al
OF swept over the valley, telling us how the
ne men who died solved by their death nigh
tin problems that were a constant menace
ms the nations life and made possible Il
ct working out of its great destiny, And Il
sum of the whole matter is this that o.
,e fallen heroes are not dead, but alive in d
mighty power their death set in motto
The sermon closed with a glowing trihu
TO the herosm displayed by the soldiers vi
is fell, and an exhortation to emulate the
20 heroism in living.
ne The Memorial Services.
r. Sunday afternoon a detachment fro